Sullwalds clinch specials title
The father-and-son crew of Hermann and Wichard Sullwald sneaked in via the back door to win the South African Special Vehicle
championship on Saturday when they took a dramatic win on the RFS Magalies 400, the final event of the Absa Off-Road Championship, at
Tarlton.
The Sullwalds, in a Sullwald SVR, started the day lying third in the championship behind reigning champions Kallie and Quintin Sullwald
(Elegant BAT), and former champion Evan Hutchison and Danie Stassen (Motorite Revo). Drama unfolded throughout the day as first Hutchison
and then Kallie Sullwald ran into problems.
The Sullwalds came home 36 seconds ahead of another father-and-son team in Nardus and Louis Alberts (Wrapsa BAT), who were making only
their third appearance of the season. Third place went to Atlas Copco BAT pair Johan van Staden and James Rossouw, who took their second
podium finish of the year, with just over a minute separating the first three cars.
After winning Friday's prologue to determine grid positions, Herman and Wichard Sullwald completed a dominant weekend with a flag-to-flag
victory that was not without its hiccups. After crossing the finish line the Sullwalds had to wait to see if their sister crew finished in
the top seven to deprive them of a maiden national title.
The reigning champions were, however, stranded out on the course with electrical problems 10 kilometres from the finish. Hutchison, after
a myriad of problems, finally limped home 13th overall with his championship challenge ending on the first of two laps that made up the
race.
Two races ago it appeared as though Hermann and Wichard Sullwald were out of the championship race. A solid performance on the Human Auto
400 brought them back into the picture with Wichard, at 23, becoming the youngest overall champion in the history of the championship.
"You have to have some sympathy with Kallie and Quintin, but that is motor racing," said Wichard afterwards. "It was a
good weekend for us but a broken shock absorber hampered us on the second loop. We also discovered a gearbox leak at the finish which could
have developed into something serious."
David White and Etienne Bezuidenhout were a solid fourth in the Ruwacon BAT with Bloemfontein winners Marius and Jolinda Fourie
completing the top five. The Fouries took the Class P honours ahead of Richard Fuller and Denis Murphy (Atlas Copco BAT) and Nic Goslar and
Andrew Massey (Men's Health Zarco).
Fourth place was enough to give the Class P title to Archie Rutherford and Mike Lawrenson (Regent Jimco). They won this event overall
last year.
The Class B honours went to the father-and-daughter pairing of Coetzee and Sandra Labuschagne in the Raysonics Zarco. Veteran Wolf Peter
Pfumfei, in a single-seater WPP, was the only other finisher in the category.